Superfan - Florida: Eddie Gilley and the Choirboys
Superfan - Florida: Eddie Gilley and the Choirboys

By Jenni Carlson

Published: May 31, 2008

Eddie Gilley is Florida's team chaplain.

Lead heckler, too.

Think the two don't go together?

"They do,” Gilley said, "because we never talk about anybody's heritage or their mama or anything else. Just what happens on the field.”

Gilley became the Gators' chaplain five years ago when asked by his neighbor, then Florida coach Karen Johns. When he started working with the team, he started going to the games and recruiting others to go with him.

Gilley and his band of merry hecklers have been dubbed "Eddie and The Choirboys.”

Along with "Choirboy” Frank Manganello, Gilley drove from Gainesville to Oklahoma City. The two-day trip and 1,183 miles failed to impair their heckling. No one was immune.

Not the umpire: "Two choices is overwhelming, isn't it?”

Not the other fans: "She loves it when they clap.”

Not even Florida coach Tim Walton, who hopped out of the way of a foul ball while standing in the third-base coach's box.

"Good ups there, coach,” Manganello said.

"Like it,” Gilley said.

Gilley skipped a chance to go with the baseball team to the College World Series a few years back as its chaplain.

"We thought we'd go back the next year, and then we didn't,” he said. "I said, ‘If the girls go to the College World Series, I'm not gonna miss it.'”

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